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Culture War Roundup for the week of June 16, 2025

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https://www.startribune.com/vance-boelter-letter-klobuchar-walz-mn-assassination/601376682

Update on the Minnesota assassination spree, the killer has stated in a letter that he was acting under the direction of Governor Tim Walz in order to clear up seats for him to run for the Senate. The article expands on this, notably with very partisan language intending to wash away any kind of culpability from the offending parties. Apparently he was also trained by elements within the US military, which is frightening if true.

Political violence has been simmering in the background for a while now, particularly with the rise of Antifa, BLM in the past Trump admin. These groups recruit susceptible members through radicalization by politicians who race-bait and highlight extraordinary events and treat them as if they represent systemic problems. This is different. Rather than relying on mass mobilization and radicalization, they seem to be moving towards more highly trained and disciplined killers performing targeted assassinations instead of widespread property damage. Maybe they've learned something from the backlash towards their previous tactics?

This guy is probably just crazy, Walz might not be a great guy but a governor of a small state in flyover having a secret stable of US-military trained assassins doesn’t sound real.

Strong agree. Evidence of craziness is just literally exhibit A: basic factual comprehension. There's literally no need to assassinate Klobuchar to free up space for Walz to run for the Senate, because the other Senator Tina Smith, is retiring already in 2026, so there's already a free spot -- a spot which, by the way, Walz himself decided against running for. For reasons not totally explained by science yet, some small percentage of men just seem to snap at some point in their lives. Although I'm not sure how much exactly to put it into this category: guy was allegedly a classic prepper, and the plan itself wasn't actually all that badly thought out (in fact I'm impressed, props to the police, that he was caught on only the second house, though a mask in combination with a police uniform still seems like anti-synergy, for lack of a better word; are you trying to hide your identity or get closer/infiltrate your targets? Pick one).

At any rate, OP, you should feel a little bit of shame for this dreadful post, by the way You are treating these absurd claims as if they are possibly credible and at face value. You are bringing out the classic "they" in conspiracy framings. Who is "they"? Yeah, yeah, Antifa and BLM, but they aren't like, actually well-organized groups (at least not on any kind of national level). I think you can make a case for loosely coordinated actions on a local level, but a new Weather Underground this is not. Consciously attempting to "recruit susceptible members" is a pretty big claim and requires actual cognizance, not something that happens stochastically or by chance.

If you want to make an actual argument about how "Antifa, BLM" are moving towards an actual "targeted assassination" strategy, make the argument, don't piggypack on some random news story and stop at innuendo.